Tuesday, September 25, 2007

no homos in iran

I watch CNN every morning for ten or fifteen minutes while I'm flossing my teeth and putting my contacts in. I don't really need the news (I read the New York Times over coffee for that) but I want to make sure there isn't any terrible breaking news I should know about. Memories of waking up September 11, 2001 still haunt me.

So yesterday I tuned in just as Lee Bolinger was wrapping up his introduction to Mahmoud Ahmadinajad and then I stayed on, transfixed to listen to the whole speech.

I had to hand it to the guy. While finding the man repugnant I also saw how he would be perceived as a hero by many less powerful nations as he skillfully used United States hypocrisy to turn every criticism against his government against ours. The United States, particularly in the last few years, has much to answer for, and our ability to evoke the moral highground has been greatly diminished on many issues because of our own muddy record.

And then on the gay persecution issue (and I was hoping somebody would ask), Ahmadinejad fell flat on his face and was rightly mocked. After a full hour of ducking and parrying on questions like Israel and nuclear weapons, he finally responded to a question with a direct answer and blatantly displayed his prejudice and ignorance. His completely ludicrous answer that Iran has no homosexuals (then who have you been hanging on sodomy charges?) belied the rest of his speech and exposed him for what he is, a crank and a moron, not a diplomat but the political equivalent of the third grader who can only respond to criticism with, "I know you are but what am I?"

2 comments:

Will said...

Very funny. The state-regulated Iranian press reportedly led with a headline that Ah'jad was welcomed at Columbia with a standing ovation.

Must be frustrating to be an Iranian right now. . . .

Ed Terpening said...

You're spot on, Ricky. That "no homosexuals" comment was incredible. It made me laugh, until I remembered the stories of you gang couples sentences to death in Iran, and then I felt sick to my stomach. The scary thing is, religious extremism in this country would love to follow Iran's lead. Why else do we still have the death penalty in this country? Pathetic.